Why Did the Treaty of Maastricht Mark a Milestone in Creating a Political Union?

To formalize German reunification, parties to the “two plus four” negotiations considered two options from the Basic Law of the FRG – Articles 23 and 146. Article 23 provided for the incorporation of new states via majority voting, while Article 146 stipulated formal reunification of the FRG and GDR through the creation of an entirely new constitution. Considering that Article 146 requires a longer period for formally reunifying the FRG and GDR, the “two plus four” negotiations opted to use Article 23 instead to facilitate German reunification quickly via incorporation. Whereas Article 23 emerged as a practical choice for German reunification, in that it enabled the FRG to take over the five former GDR states under its Basic Law (as amended) and effectively retain its membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), United Nations (UN) and the European Community (later known as the European Union), several political and economic problems continue to plague Germany following reunification (Fulbrook 243-257; Turner 225-255).

Not only was a decision made to create the EMU but the governments of the member states also signed on creating a political union for “an ever closer union among the peoples of Europe”. The discussion within the negotiations on the Maastricht Treaty focused on themes like the role of the European Parliament, establishing a European citizenship, the development of new common policies such as culture and interior affairs and the creation of a common foreign

With regards to the claim that the European Parliament is too weak (the second of Weiler's standard version claims), Moravcsik (2002; 2003) emphasises the fact that during the last twenty years, the European Parliament is the institution which have experienced the most reforms, regarding its increase of powers, compare to the Council and the Commission. The latter argument is in fact accurate because ever since the Single European Act (1986), the European Parliament gains more and more power by reforms in every signed Treaty (Moravcsik, 2003, p. 7). Despite that, however, the Parliament is still considered to be weak compared to the other institutions, as it will be analysed later in the essay.

The Treaty on European Union also known as the Maastricht Treaty was signed in Maastricht 7th of February 1992 and the Treaty on the functioning of the

Indeed, the ideological foundations that gave birth to the EU were based on ensuring development and maintaining international stability, i.e., the containment of communist expansion in post World War II Europe (Hunt 1989). The Maastricht Treaty which gave birth to the EU in 1992 included considerations for joint policies in regard to military defense and citizenship.

First, the Weimar Republic produced some amazing culture in the arts, sciences, technology, and education (Read This). Seriously, a LOT of very cool stuff happens in interwar Germany before the Nazis rise to power.

The main goal of the Treaty of Versailles was to keep peace. Georges Clemenceau from France was part of the Big 3 and he utterly despised Germany. He believed that if Germany was weakened and broken down into little pieces they could never start another war or threaten France again. He mainly wanted Germany to be severely punished and they were. A large section of the Treaty dealt with the punishment of Germany because many others believed in the thinking of Clemenceau. Another part of the Treaty dealt with the League of Nations. The League was set to enforce the Treaty along with improving the world. The League had achieved many of its goals, but by the 1930 's it wasn 't

All over Europe transformations were taking place from changing political alignments to structuring the perfect government, which allowed for several domestic reforms to occur. Some of the

6. The European Court of Justice can overrule all member states’ courts on which issues?

Over the past several years, the European Union’s response to crises illustrates its resiliency, with the Union itself serving as the main support system for countries in need. Unfortunately the once prosperous European Union currently experiences a gradual decline in effectiveness. Political Scientists Sebastian Rosato and Douglas Webber highlight the issues plaguing the European Union, with Rosato focusing on post-Cold War Europe and Webber focusing on the rise of nationalists and the Union’s reliance on Germany. While each scholar takes a different approach in explaining the downfall of the Union, they each conclude that the European Union is not on a positive path. Both arguments provide valuable insight, however, Webber’s argument appears

Europe had dominated the global trade, banking and finance, its empires had stretched across the word and its military powers had been unquestioned. From this high Europe was brought down to lows of the devastation of the Second World War; a war that left 40 million people dead. It destroyed countries, cities were left in ruin and agricultural production halved, leaving many people to rationing their food. This all meant terrible news for Europe’s global influence and power leading to the emergence of two huge superpowers the United States of America and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic. This is what gave birth to the European Union, an idea conceived by Jean Monnet.

In 1992, twelve countries came together and signed the Maastricht Treaty creating the European Union (Krajewska, 2014, pp. 6-25). The last obstacle that the EU had to face was the different currencies of each country, therefore a decade later on January 1, 1999 the Euro was created. Many countries that adopted the new currency fell within the Euro Area. Each country had to discontinue their old currency and the monetary policies giving control the newly formed European Central Bank (ECB), but each separate country still had their own fiscal policies one of the key reasons for the current debt crisis (Krajewska, 2014, pp. 6-25). The union of multiple countries into a central body seemed to be a wise choice for greater economic growth, but the failure from one country is a failure for all.

An Analysis of the Powers of the European Parliament History of the European Parliament: On the 18th April 1951 the Ministers representing France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg signed in Paris a treaty which established the European Coal and Steel Community, the ECSC was born. The most important feature of the ECSC was its supranational character, it was a supranational organization. It was aptly described as a 'quasi federation in an important economic sector.[1] The Community was endowed with five organs; 1. An executive, called the High Authority 2.

The European Union (EU) was established in order to prevent the horrors of modern warfare, experienced by most of Europe during the World Wars of the 20th century, from ever ensuing again, by aiming to create an environment of trust with the countries of Europe cooperating in areas such as commerce, research and trade (Adams, 2001). The EU has evolved into an economic, trade, political and monetary alliance between twenty-eight European Member States. While not all Member States are in monetary union (i.e. share the currency of the euro), those that are form the ‘Euro-zone’ (Dinan, 2006). The EU can pass a number of types of legislation, with a regulation, act, or law, being the most powerful. Its ‘tricameral’ (European Union, 2007)

The Union shall establish an internal market. It shall work for the sustainable development of Europe based on balanced economic growth and price stability,